Ads and Affiliates: Should Affiliate Link Point to the Merchant's Domain?
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"It has long been considered wise to have affiliate links point to the merchant's domain. But this can backfire for larger merchants. Dr. Wilson discusses the various issues that concern cookies, anti-adware, affiliate hijacking, and blocked domains in this rather technical article on various approaches used by affiliate management software programs. Date: Apr 27, 2005, 13:52 PST"

Conversion: Review: Call to Action
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Review of Call to Action by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. It is a comprehensive volume on all of the elements in your website that, working together, will help raise your overall conversion rate. Highly recommended. Date: Apr 20, 2005, 20:37 PST"

E-Mail Marketing: Improving Your Subscription Confirmation Rate
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Using confirmed opt-in (or double opt-in) is considered a best practice for e-mail lists. But unless you work at it, your confirmation rate can be dangerously low. Here are tips to improve an opt-in confirmation procedure. Date: Apr 13, 2005, 15:34 PST"

E-Commerce: Shipping Calculations with Drop-Shippers
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Figuring shipping charges when your drop-shippers are scattered can be challenging. Charge standard shipping fees by sales total or weight that average out your actual costs. Use fewer shippers and pick products that are hot and not overly competitive. Date: Apr 6, 2005, 13:34 PST"

E-Commerce: Receiving Affiliate Payments in Disallowed Countries
From: www.wilsonweb.com

"Countries with high fraud or an unsophisticated bank infrastructure have difficulty receiving affiliate payments from merchants who pay via PayPal only. Article suggests a friend or relative in an allowed country who can send payments to the disallowed country via MoneyBookers or iKobo. Date: Mar 30, 2005, 11:19 PST"


Drudge: Bloggers Should Not Call Themselves Bloggers
From: www.webpronews.com

"Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report appeard on C-SPAN with Brian Lamb and discussed his distaste for the word BLOG."

French to Google: Puh!
From: www.webpronews.com

"Reaffirming its heralded position as guardian of global culture (cheese, wine, literature, extended vacations, and things that smell), the French and other EU nations have mustered up enough dander to protect the world against latest "risk of crushing American domination " Google."

Blogs Are Not Journalism
From: www.webpronews.com

"Dana Blankenhorn: "To say a blog is journalism is like saying web pages are journalism." ..."

Mobile Phone Virus Appears In US
From: www.webpronews.com

"Users in Twenty countries have reported outbreaks of the Cabir virus, which spreads from phone to phone."

Verizon: There s No Such Thing As Free WiFi
From: www.webpronews.com

"Citing billions of dollars in costs to upgrade its cellular Internet networks, Verizon announced that it would phase out free WiFi connection for New York City DSL subscribers."


Bill Calls for Foreign Workers
From: www.wired.com

"Limited visas strain tech companies looking for skilled workers. Also: A startup hopes to make video sharing mainstream.... AOL devises a new way to talk online.... and more."

Ads That Know What You Want
From: www.wired.com

"Online marketers take a shine to ads tied to internet users' personal interests. In the process, they're increasingly tracking people's activities across networks of websites. Joanna Glasner reports from San Francisco."

Wal-Mart Says, Make CDs Yourself
From: www.wired.com

"The retail giant lets shoppers customize music CDs on the web for delivery by mail. Also: Nanotechnology to make cell phones cheaper.... High-end cell phones could beat out iPods…. and more."

Your Money Under More Scrutiny
From: www.wired.com

"Banks are installing anti-money-laundering software on a massive scale. The new systems may help track al-Qaida, but they'll also help track everyone else. Small violations of the law will no longer go unnoticed. By Manu Joseph."

Boost for Israeli Tech Startups
From: www.wired.com

"IBM and Israel will encourage Israeli startups to develop open-standards technology. Also: Game industry sees Google-sized profits…. Microsoft is ready to unleash Longhorn…. and more."


US Air -- Email Response Parsing
From: webword.com

" I had trouble signing up for US Air's frequent flyer program (Dividend Miles). I literally tried about eight times, but failed. So, a couple of days ago I spent about 10 minutes looking for a way to send them an email. I found a way, sent my message and shuffled along.

Today I received a response. The customer service representative informed me that I could provide her with my contact information and she would sign me up. So, I hit the Reply button, typed the message, and sent the email.

It bounced. At first I was frustrated, figuring that, yet again, a big company is using a generic email address. I know this makes sense for many reasons, but the practice drives me crazy as a user. In any event, although it was true the email address was generic, that was not the root cause.

After scanning the email, I found the following two lines:

[===> If you need to reply to us, please type below this line ===>]

[===> If you need to reply to us, please type above this line ===>]

No, I'm not kidding. I've never seen anything quite like this, except in code comments. Then it hit me. Bing! That is exactly what US Air is doing. They are exposing their technology to me, the end user.

I'll bet they have code to parse responses from schlumps like me. They probably programmatically evaluate the subject line, which includes an incident number, and then they parse out the text between the two lines. Clever. Maybe.

How about the usability factor? Does cost savings trump usability here?"

The Dawn and Joy of the Real Estate Market
From: webword.com

" I've been reading a lot of about how the real estate market bubble is going to burst. But I am curious about the term "bubble" as it applies to the real estate market. When you think about bubbles, what do you think? Thin, fragile, ready to burst? That's what I think. Doesn't irrational exuberance make more sense?"

Fear of Money
From: webword.com

" Fear of money? Are you kidding? Not at all. Read on if you think I'm crazy.

How well do you understand money? How well do you understand how money flows in and out of your life? Can you directly link your financial health to how you feel? Who taught you to balance your checkbook? Do you know how to pick a good mutual fund? Do you understand financial risk? Are your assets diversified? Is debt ever a good thing?

I'm asking these questions because I am constantly astounded about how little people understand money. Many people live paycheck to paycheck. Many people complain about money. Many people are on the brink of bankruptcy. Many people are looking to win the lottery.

The truth is that most people simply don't understand how money works. They don't understand what money is. Money is critical to people, yet they don't know much about it.

Why?

You don't really learn about money in school. If you are lucky, you learn about it at home or from your friends. However, if you don't have a good teacher, you can be in big trouble. Even if you learn on your own, you'll never really know if you are seeing the entire picture.

You might turn over your money to a financial advisor. But, do you understand what the financial advisor is really doing? Do you know how to pick a good advisor? Are financial advisors working in your best interest? How do you know?

Money seems so simple, but maybe it isn't. Maybe that cash in your pocket means something different than what you think it does.

Here's the radical point: Most people are afraid of money. They have fear about how to get it and how to keep it. They have fear about how to handle it when they do have it. They even have fear about how to spend it. They have fear of losing it. Sadly, most people don't seem to feel good about money.

If you have a minute, talk about how you learned about money. Did your parents throw you a clue? Also, talk a little bit about how you feel financially. That is, do you have a simple way to match your financial situation to how you feel? Do you know from month to month if things are getting better or worse? Do you fear money? Do you know why you fear money?

"

Bass Ackwards
From: webword.com

" Avis needs to try harder. On their My Avis sign up page they say:

Please note that information marked with an asterisk (*) is optional.

Virtually every other form on the web does it the other way around. Required fields are indicated (color, bold, asterisk). Tsk, tsk."

Wiki Questions
From: webword.com

" Can wiki pages be locked when being edited by others? Is there any check in, check out capability? I can't find any solid answers.

Speaking of wikis, do you have any favorite web-based, collaborative, document management tools? How do you share a document, or series of documents, with others, while providing them with editing and revision access?"


'Uh Oh' Here It Comes Again!
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"Another Internet Marketing shockwave will hit in the next few days... ...Are You Ready For It?..."

Thank You, Microsoft
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"I recently reported that Yahoo was in the process of launching its own AdSense type program (which is great news for web publishers). Well, it appears as if Microsoft won't be far behind... There's no news yet about Microsoft creating..."

More Yahoo 'AdSense Clone' News
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"News.com recently reported more information about Yahoo entering Google's AdSense territory. Check out the story here. Yahoo is already building an opt-in notification list for publishers that are interested in their "upcoming programs." Get on the list NOW to be..."

Good News For Us!
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"Well, it appears as if my speculation is finally coming true... Over a year ago, I predicted that Yahoo would follow Google's AdSense lead and release a similar program of their own. They'd have to in order to keep up..."

I Have A Strange Feeling...
From: www.marketingsecrets.com

"I have a strange feeling that long form sales letters on the Web are going to become less and less effective. Call it a hunch. As an avid tester, I am discovering some interesting things about how long visitors stay..."